History was within his grasp when the day began, but none of that meant anything to 20-year-old amateur Ryan McCormick.

The fact that he entered the final day of play in the 97th Met Open with the chance to become only the third person to win both the Met
Amateur and Open never factored into his thinking.

“No, I had no idea,’’ McCormick said after his bid failed by one, agonizing stroke yesterday at the Plainfield Country Club in Edison. ”I just try to go out and play, that’s about it. I came up a shot short.’’

McCormick, a junior at St. John’s, led by two strokes after the first two rounds, but an up-and-down final round left him in a four-way tie for runner-up, one behind eventual winner Danny Balin of Greenwich, Conn.

McCormick, who plays for Suburban Golf Club in Union, was tied with two other New Jerseyans, Robert Gage (Forsgate CC) and touring pro Morgan Hoffmann of Wyckoff, along with Mike Ballo Jr., of Connecticut.

“It’s tough. I don’t know. It’s unfortunate,’’ McCormick said, trying to collect his thoughts after it was over. ”I gave myself some opportunities, and that’s really all you can ask for. There was a putt to tie it and I had a couple putts on 17, so, if you would have asked me, before the tournament started on Tuesday, if I had a putt to go in a playoff … It hurts right now, but you know, I’m pretty proud of the way I played.’’

Birdies on holes 1 and 3 had McCormick expanding his lead, but double-bogeys on 5 and 10, and bogies on 9 and 11 dropped him two strokes behind the hard-charging Balin, who carded a six-under-par 66.

But McCormick fought back with birdies on 15 and 16, and on 17, made a daring bid to barge his way back to the lead.

McCormick purposely drove his tee shot wide right on the 520-yard, par-5 hole, intentionally landing on the fairway of hole No. 11, which he decided would give him a better angle to the pin. The strategy worked. McCormick’s second shot got him within 20 feet of the pin with a chance for eagle. But he wasn’t able to pull it off.
“I just didn’t really hit it hard enough, the first putt,’’ he said. ”And the second putt, I actually hit a good putt, I just missed high.’’

McCormick settled for par, and entered the final hole tied with Balin. But his approach shot was short, and left him downhill of the hole, about 60 feet away. His birdie attempt was on line, but short, leaving him a 10-footer for par to force a playoff. The second putt, however, lipped out.

“I played good,’’ McCormick insisted. ”I hit a couple good shots that didn’t work out, but that’s going to happen every round. Nothing changed (after the first two rounds) — I just didn’t play great.’’